A glimpse of my thoughts...

Happy Thanksgiving first of all! I need to make sure to say that one to you. Wherever you are, whatever your circumstances...I am sure there is something to be thankful for. For me there are more things then I can get down here. God has been SO good to me. There are the simple everyday joys he throws at me when I am observant enough to pay attention and there are the deep, meaningful, life changing things that I will only recognize when I take the time to look and realize. He has been good.
That being said, He hit me today with a realization. I think a little bit lately I have been being thankful "despite the circumstances" as opposed to "because of them". Now, don't get me wrong, I have a lot to be thankful for and to be honest...there are no really big trials that I personally, am facing right now. The problem is that things aren't exactly where I might have hoped they would be and even though I feel as if we are working towards a few goals...I am not at the finishing line right now. I have chosen to keep pushing and working towards them and have not allowed any obstacles to slow me down for too long. I have not, however, been thankful for where I am at. So today, I will make an effort. I will try to look at the circumstances... as they are...and be thankful. This time, this place, these feelings and experiences...they are ALL part of it. I pray for you today...my friends, family and maybe people I don't know...I pray that He will show you how to be truly thankful. Thankful not despite the hardships, but somehow thankful because of them. He is working. This is not something I say to make you or myself feel better....He is working. This I KNOW! May you feel his joy today!

I apologize!

Ok, so that last post was disorganized and completely lame. I don't promise this one will be better. Things are going pretty well. I am enjoying life right now and trying to adjust to the change in daylight. Jada has decided that to ensure she gets a walk she is going to wake me up at 5 AM EVERYDAY. I take her in the morning before work, drive in to work, leave work and get home when it is pitch black outside. This causes quite a problem. At this point I immediately feel as if I haven't slept in a week and must in turn go to bed at 8:30 p.m. I try to tell myself that this is due to the weather and has nothing to do with the fact that I am now an old lady.
Last week was a rough one at work. By Thursday, I HAD HAD IT!!! My pharmacist Brian was aware of the way I felt and I am sure I was a little bit more quarrelsome as the week had gone on. I got to work on Thursday to find a box of what appeared to be vials sitting at my station with my name (spelled wrong) written on it. Instantly I WAS LIVID. I said something like "Um...is this from you (to Brian)?" To which he replied, "YES!!!". I then said, "Well, you spelled my name wrong (in a tone I hadn't used since I was 13 and angry at my mom for some lame reason)! " Brian kept smiling and said "Look inside!!!" To which I responded, " I GET IT BRIAN, my vials need to be filled....as you may have noticed it has been a rather stressful week for me." As I was responding to this I opened the box. Sitting inside were not the 500- 16 dram vials I expected to see...no, sitting inside was a 11 pack of my favorite soda (Diet Dr. Pepper for those taking notes!) with a note telling me one was chilling in the freezer for me. Needless to say, my face which normally has no pigment, turned BRIGHT red. I felt horrible. Now Brian knew that he was a large portion of my stress, but still, I felt bad for reacting so rashly. Everyone who knows me though, knows I am not a fan of being micromanaged.
Thursday night I did something stupid. I went to the midnight showing of New Moon. It was not planned...it was spontaneous. I did this, knowing that the next morning I would have to get up and bake some of my famous cookies, as I had promised them to a co-worker for his b-day. So, I went to the movie with my best friend, her husband (the loudest cheerer in the theater), her brother and....HER PARENTS! It was stinking hilarious. We went to the block E theater and so by the time I got home is was 3:30 AM. I woke up at 6:30AM and made cookies while drinking a red bull! Jada made sure to get her walk and I was off to work on 3 hours of sleep. Needless to say, I really hope I didn't kill anyone that day. Good thing I am not the final check. My coworkers are considering a caffeine intervention for me. Whatever, I know I don't have a problem!
Final note, I went to see The Blind Side on Friday with my family. It was great. I totally recommend it, just not after you have had 3 hours of sleep the night before. Also, my Steelers will pull through in the end. I just know it! Finally, it really does taste more like regular Dr. Pepper!

A long time coming...

Hey, SO sorry about how long it has been since I updated. My computer has been broken since I got back from Boston. I must say, I don't know how I survived pre-1990(ish). The Internet is definitely something I can live without...but life isn't as fun. So now to update you on some of the things that happened since my last post.

1.) I went to Boston, had an AMAZING time, turned 26 and was reminded of how blessed I am. Highlights included: -Waking up from a nap, to find myself standing over Carrie's bed with my fist in the air in a stabbing motion. I have never woken up in the midst of sleep walking before. This was weird and hilarious(I think Carrie would agree).

- Being offered pot for the first time in my life. It only took 26 years! Don't worry mom....I said no.

- Walking down a street in the North End to find it lined with the trucks for the team filming Ben Affleck's new movie. After realizing this we found a coffee shop on the corner and sat in the window overlooking the street while watching them film a scene.

- Seeing Ben Affleck dressed as a nun as he drove a minivan down the street less than 10 feet away from me.

- Hanging out with AMAZING friends in Boston

- Climbing all 294 stairs to the top of the Bunker Hill monument.

- Being told by our concierge that I didn't have a MN accent only to have that corrected when I said the word "one".

- Mike's pastries! I have never had a cannoli nor did I ever think I would want one. I was SO wrong.

- Sitting in the middle of one of the prettiest parks I have ever seen. I would highly recommend the Boston Commons area.

- Fenway

- Dunkin Donuts coffee

-The Sam Adams Brewery where I discovered "Cherry Wheat".

-My Steelers beat the Vikings...on my b-day!

There were a lot of other experiences but these were some of the top. Now I have been home for a few weeks and things are going pretty well. I will update more later though as this post has gotten rather long (as they usually do). Hope all is well in your world and if you are looking for a great city to visit, Boston would definately fit into that catagory for me. It is extremely walkable and SO much fun. There was SO much history and character to it.

Here it comes...

It has been almost a year since this blog began. CRAZY! I am going to be 26...CRAZIER!!! For as long as I can remember, 26 has been my favorite number. I don't know why...it just has. Maybe this year will show me why that is the case. I know that I will need to make it what I want it to be. Can't wait to see what is in store.
I leave for Boston tomorrow AM. In 10 hours to be exact. I've traveled a lot in my 26 years but never have I been "out east". I am SUPER excited. I think my co-workers were going to kill me if I didn't stop talking about it. Oh well. The timing of this trip couldn't be better as the H1N1 has hit the hospital like a ton of bricks. I have 4 co-workers out sick this week alone with suspected cases. Needless to say, I am not sad to leave that place for a few days.
I would love to stay here and make this a really wordy post (you know how I love that), but I need to get packing and doing laundry. I feel like I am cramming for finals tonight although the object I am working towards is much more fun than some dumb test that equals half my grade. I'll be back Tuesday and I am sure I will have some stories to tell!

Thought you might laugh...

So, the other day I was bored and thought it might be fun to read through some of my old diaries. The following excerpts come from the very first diary I ever had. It is a hard bound book with a lock that was given to me by my first grade best friend. Here goes:

Friday 11/1/91: Today I went to my nabrs house. We had Rost beef, Putatose, rolls and carets. It was good. then we had Apply pie. it was good too. I like my nabrs house. Sined, Abigail Allen


Sunday 5/31/92: Today I went to the park to play ball (softball).

Saturday 10/31/92: Dear Diriy there is a cute boy in my class named _____. Pleas don't tell. by,Abigail


4/31/94: Dear Becky (I started writing to my best friend), I had a good easter but I got spanked because my room was messy. Abbie


There were quite a few other excerpts. All as life altering as the ones above. Man, to be a kid again! I especially remember the last one as getting in trouble on Easter seems as unfair to me as taking away a summer vacation.
Also a side note, I cried for the first time at my "new job" today! Guess it is not a "new job" anymore!

Abbie asks: Have you seen me?

So there I was....minding my own business, as I usually do, when out of nowhere this face became the one that I know will haunt my dreams. I was walking to my car, which was parked on level two of the parking ramp at work. As I approach the vehicle I notice a very large form sitting on top of my car right above where the driver's door meets the rest of the car. As I get closer I realize that perched on top of my car is what one who is uneducated in the animal life on the U campus would assume to be a cross between a very large kangaroo and a somewhat smallish Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep. I am not one of those people and so I knew exactly what I was dealing with. It was a Tamiasciurus UOFMUS, commonly known as a Squirrel from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus region. This is no ordinary squirrel.
I walked closer to the car making as much noise as possible to try and scare it away. This did nothing. I then proceeded to lock and unlock my car repeatedly hoping this would do the trick. This in turn only alerted the monster to the fact that he was not sitting on a park bench.
Now, part of the problem involves the fact that I park directly underneath an oak tree at home. It is Autumn as you probably know and the acorns are falling off the tree about as rapidly as NFL players are having season ending injuries. There are acorns EVERYWHERE. I have been using my windshield wipers in the morning just so I can see out my window and I try to go from 0 to 60 mph as fast as possible just to lose a few. There are even 10 or so embedded into my paint job.
This being said, the scary monster was eating away at some of these acorns, not fazed in the least by my attempts to rid him from my car. All at once, he spotted me. He looked right at me and.....STAYED PUT. He was not moving. He was however, ever so slightly preparing for the attack if I should try to get any closer to the car (aka his personal vending machine). Now, if you know me at all, you know that I am afraid of pretty much everything. Once I screamed at the sight of a pillow because I though it was smiling at me. This being said I did what any sane person would do in this situation. I walked slowly over to the passenger side of my car as I was calling my co-worker on my cell for reinforcements. I slowly climbed into the car as I hyperventilated into the phone while explaining the situation to my on call sidekick. I shut the door and started to climb over the center console to make for a quick getaway. Just then....my panic button went off on the remote that I had in my hand the WHOLE time. Mr. Scary Monster scurried away faster than Michael Johnson ever ran with his gold shoes. Needless to say, if I ever see that squirrel again....the panic button will be in hand!

I'll penalize you!

Hey there, long time. Sorry about that. I am sure all of you readers (Hi mom!) have been on the edges of your seats just waiting for the next installment of this VERY exciting blog. So here we go.

Things have been going pretty well. The new church is great. Love the sermons, adjusting to the music (and not being a part of it), trying to figure out how to get involved. The move has been pushed back to November. I will SO enjoy being closer to work and Church but I am also trying to make sure I find a place that I can stay for awhile. I am not a fan of moving.

Isabelle turned 7 this year and I am feeling older by the minute. I can't believe I am an aunt of three and 2 of them speak more Spanish from their Dora movies then I learned in three years of high school. I am still waking up to find new, strange bruises on my arms and have deducted that I am indeed.....a ninja by night. It is the only explanation.

Work is going well. I still have yet to cry at my "new" job. Side note: When does a job stop being new? My co-workers try to find new ways to make it happen. There have been many attempts to yell at me, steal my lunch, pretend my dog died and my new favorite....poke me in one of my already multi-colored bruises. The last option didn't evoke tears...it only made soda come out my nose.

A little over a month ago I had to report a customer that was calling in pretending to be a nurse and prescribing for herself. I found out this week that she was fired. I also found out I may be getting subpoenaed. I am not too scared as this will be the third time that has happened and nothing has ever come of it (except that I had to change my name and promise to never speak to my family again). We'll keep you posted on that one.

This week I had a patient who's co-pay through their insurance was over $800 for a month supply. I called the insurance to find out why and they said that they were penalizing the patient for needing to get the brand name. Now understand that I don't typically root for patients who request brand name and tell me they "don't like those damn genetic (no this is not a typo) drugs!". In this instance though I am inclined to be a little more understanding. It was for a transplant patient and it was their anti-rejection med. The doctor said that we must dispense brand name because they don't think the generic works as well in this situation. Not something I would want to compromise. Even though it was per the doctors request and they filled out all the required paperwork to get the brand name approved the insurance company still wanted to "penalize (their words)" the patient for this request. If the patient received the generic version...their co-pay went from $800 to....$0. I was outraged. I have had it up to here (visualize me drawing a line over my head) with insurance companies. That is all I have to say about that one. Except that I would like to penalize them. Alright....I am out of here. Hope all is well with all of you (again...hi mom!). Peace out!!!